SchneidervsschneienTell them apart

Quick tell: Schneider is a noun, schneien is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Schneider” is a noun and “schneien” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,277
“Schneider” frequency rank
#42,114
“schneien” frequency rank
45391
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Schneider schneien
Definition meist selbstständiger Handwerker, Gewerbetreibender, der Kleidung anfertigt oder ändert in Form von Schneeflocken vom Himmel fallen

Where the eye mixes Schneider and schneien

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. Schneider runs 9 letters (CCCCVVCVC) against schneien's 8 (CCCCVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
Schneider
8 ch
schneien

Why the eye confuses Schneider with schneien

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Schneider is [ˈʃnaɪ̯dɐ] while schneien is [ˈʃnaɪ̯ən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45391, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Schneider is recorded at frequency rank #3,277, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃnaɪ̯dɐ]. schneien is at rank #42,114, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃnaɪ̯ən].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 45391, this pair ranks #1,354,630 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Schneider vs schneien

Shared letters: cehins. Private to "Schneider": dr. Private to "schneien": -.

"Schneider" · 9 letters · shape CCCCVVCVC  ·  "schneien" · 8 letters · shape CCCCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Schneider ← cshneider · scchneider · schenider · schhneider · schnedier · schneidder · schneiderr · schneidre
  • schneien ← cshneien · scchneien · schhneien · schneein · schneienn · schneine · schnieen · schnneien

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Schneider" and "schneien" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Schneider" is a noun and "schneien" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Schneider" or "schneien" show up more?
"Schneider" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,277 in our German list, against #42,114 for "schneien". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Schneider" and "schneien" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Schneider" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schneien" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,354,630 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Schneider" and "schneien" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schneien vs Schreier". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,354,630 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list